Vaping while pumping gas???

[Sue1971]

Ok forgive me if this has been talked about, (yes too lazy this morning to search, sorry)

But the other day I was driving by a gas station and it cough my eye. A man vaping happily away while pumping his gas.

Now I don't know if I would personally do this. I mean the coil is kind of a ignitor is it not? But then I was thinking well the coil is already saturated with e-juice so it possibly can not ignite the gas fumes...

Thoughts???

 

[Nugsy]

I wouldnt but im paranoid. I also live in new jersey so i dont pump my own gas unless im out of state haha

 

[Richard75]

The coil would have to be hot enough to ignite the fumes in the air, and there would have to be enough fumes in the air to be ignited by the coil. In other words, I find it very unlikely normal vaping would ignite anything at the gas station.

At the same time, I wouldn't classify it as the most ideal place to vape, either.

 

[zahzoo]

There's virtually no risk of ignition from any form of e-cig... while pumping gas. Given the coil is inside the atty and surrounded by e-juice there's no way for the gasoline fumes to reach the inside of your atty.

I doubt you could even ignite gas fumes with an atomizer even if you tried... most cases it won't get hot enough.

 

[bobrob]

I wondered this same thing. Since the coil is exposed to air at least partially, couldn't it ignite fumes even with a wet wick? No airflow no vapor, and couldn't that air have gas fumes in it?

 

[B2L]

Life is a series of decisions which, for me personally, are made by evaluating risk vs reward. Max reward for vaping at a gas pump is I don't have to wait a few minutes to vape, max risk, although the chance of it happening may be somewhere close to nothing, is a catastrophic explosion. Best case scenario is no explosion but people who don't understand see you and think vapers are idiots.

Put the best case scenario on the scale with the max reward and see which carries the most weight.

 

[PaulBHC]

google the flash point of gasoline and compare it to the temp of a coil.

When I set up people with home oxygen and they ask me about vaping, I tell them there is a one in a billion chance that the battery could catch fire and you don't want that near your face with the oxygen. I would say the same about pumping gas. Step back 10 or more feet and vape away.

 

[minitater]

Why scare other folks who may think it is smoke from a cigarette? If you can't wait the three or four minutes then you have issues. Anyway, when pumping gas, you ought to pay full attention to that task and leave your vapes in the car.

 

[FattyJ]

You are more likely to blow yourself up using your cell phone while pumping gas IMO. Gasoline vapor is very explosive and easy to ignite but only when it is concentrated in the air. So unless you are in a closed area that reeks of gas fumes you are safe. Even then like most said the atomizer is for the most part enclosed in liquid and there is no easy way for concentrated gas fumes to reach the coil.

 

[Sue1971]

I really don't think anything bad would happen, But I thought it was quite amusing actually. I knew he was vaping, I could see the CE5, But others who didn't have a clue would be like "OH MY GOD! HE'S SMOKING AT THE PUMP!"

True story: My dad used to fill the lawnmower with a Stinkybutt hanging out of his mouth. And me being a kid at the time would say, "Dad you're going to blow us up, lol "

 

[Flt Simulation]

Why scare other folks who may think it is smoke from a cigarette?

If you can't wait the three or four minutes then you have issues. Anyway, when pumping gas, you ought to pay full attention to that task and leave your vapes in the car.

Best answer yet!

 

[Lurch]

My son works as a Firefighter in the Pits at Daytona International Speedway. He was working one day and caught sight of a cloud blowing up behind him. Now, there are typically a large number of high octane fuel tanks sitting around the pits so smoking is an absolute no-no.

He walked back to check it out and found a guy vaping! Just to be safe, they still asked him not to vape within the pit area...

 

[DaveP]

I've vaped a couple of hits while pumping gas, but there's breeze and an open area involved. I don't vape while pouring gas into my lawn mower or while working on a gas engine device in the garage.

Ignition point of gasoline vapors: +/- 500 degrees Fahrenheit.

The average temp of an ecig coil with a wet wick is about 250 degrees Fahrenheit.

I've checked the temp of the muffler on my gasoline generator while it was running. My hands free digital thermometer read 947 degrees F on that muffler. The exterior temperature of a typical catalytic converter on a car is supposed to read about 500 degrees F on the exterior of the inlet neck if it's functioning properly. If gas pools and hugs the ground, then a catalytic converter would light off any gas fumes. Gas stations don't even worry about that sort of hazard.

Gas vapors tend to fall and pool in still open air because gas fumes are heavier than air. It's the reason that local codes require gas water heaters to be elevated 18" in a garage to prevent the water heater from igniting leaking gas fumes.

 

[Shootist]

For years people smoked cigarettes while they pumped their own gas and smoked inside their cars while others pumped gas into their cars.

In only a few cases did the fumes from pumping gas, and smoking, cause any fires.

Vaping, IMHO, posses no risk of igniting the fumes that may come out of the tank while gas is flowing into it.

Possibly if you stuck your face with PV right at the tank inlet and vaped with a dry coil that could glow red hot you might have a problem. But otherwise I serious doubt it.

I vape while filling my tank. But only with a cig a like and I never stand right over, and or put my face/PV near, the tank inlet.

But that doesn't mean the STUPID people of this world won't try that and somehow cause a fire. Then there will be signs saying "NO VAPING" while filling your tank.

 

[tj99959]

Don't use ANY battery operated device while pumping gas. Static electricity is the potential problem ... not the coil in the PV.
So far no fire has ever been ignited by an e-cig, but why would you want to be the first person to do so?

 

[VaPreis]

While I don't personally believe it's necessarily dangerous, the purpose of vaping at the gas pump can only be antagonistic.

If you really can't wait 5 minutes to pump your gas before you vape, then your issues are bigger then nicotine addiction.

 

[Sthur]

We should ask mythbusters to prove this

 

[B2L]

We should ask mythbusters to prove this

Great idea, I sent an email to Email Us Your Myths! : Discovery Channel asking if they would do just that. We'll see.

 

[B2L]

Got an auto response back:

Dear MythBuster Fan,

Thanks so much for getting in touch! Right now we're really busy busting myths so we can't reply to individual emails - sorry! But we greatly appreciate you writing in and when we get a chance to go through our inbox, we'll get in touch if we've got any follow up questions. In the meantime, question everything and trust no one!

Long live science,

Team MB

I will post here if/when I hear anything else.

 

[Skeebo]

While I don't personally believe it's necessarily dangerous, the purpose of vaping at the gas pump can only be antagonistic.

Especially if the person has tattoos, and/or a beard.